Spec's Willet bottlings

Spec's in Dallas opened over the weekend. I had a chance to go over there this morning and was quite impressed with the whiskey selection. Of particular interest were a handful of Spec's private selection Willet bottles. They had a 4, 8, 9 and 20yr straight bourbon and a 4yr straight rye (all single barrel, CS).

I picked up the rye because it was only $37 but wanted to see if anyone around had tried any of these particular bourbon releases. I'm tempted to pick up all of them but not without hearing a few good words on them first.

Re: Spec's Willet bottlings

Originally Posted by StraightNoChaser

Spec's in Dallas opened over the weekend. I had a chance to go over there this morning and was quite impressed with the whiskey selection. Of particular interest were a handful of Spec's private selection Willet bottles. They had a 4, 8, 9 and 20yr straight bourbon and a 4yr straight rye (all single barrel, CS).

I picked up the rye because it was only $37 but wanted to see if anyone around had tried any of these particular bourbon releases. I'm tempted to pick up all of them but not without hearing a few good words on them first.

They had a 7 and 8 in Houston which arrived 4-5 months ago. I did not like the 7, the 8 was good but overpriced. I think they wanted $75 for the 8, vs some barrels I have participated in from KBD for same juice but a barrel proof and price was $45. I knew these new bottlings were coming, but I still don't know who from Specs, if anybody, is picking these barrels.

How were the prices compared to other retailers around DFW? Specs will price the same item at different prices at different stores.

Re: Spec's Willet bottlings

I have a bottle of an 8 year that I do like. It's a little younger than what I normally drink but it ends up being well balanced. The nose is grain forward. The palate introduces the char and wood. The finish is extremely long. For what it is I really like it. We just started getting random Willett single barrel bottles around town. The back labels are all blank so I don't know who picked any of them. They do give the barrel number for whatever that is worth.

The rye is also good. I have the 2 year and 4 year. I am very impressed at how well the 4 year matured over the 2. I look forward to tracking its progress assuming they continue to release it at older age statements.